


Your Only Enemy is Yourself

by Wxlipse



Series: 🐺Tangled the Series Oneshots [3]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Flashbacks, Hurt No Comfort, Putting it on Teen and Up audiences just to be safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24334345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wxlipse/pseuds/Wxlipse
Summary: In the Kingdom of Corona, the palace that once stood tall and proud is in ruins.A lone figure travels inside the castle, and finds her way to where she always goes.
Relationships: Cassandra & Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled), Cassandra & Zhan Tiri
Series: 🐺Tangled the Series Oneshots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782172
Comments: 10
Kudos: 19





	Your Only Enemy is Yourself

"But the worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself."

Friedrich Nietzsche.

* * *

**Within the walls of a broken castle** , a figure makes her way down the winding corridors. She leans against the wall for support, stumbling on her own feet. Her footsteps echo as her heels collide with the floor. Moonlight casts a shadow upon her form, making her appear gaunt and sallow. There are dark rings under her eyes, and her hair is disheveled. She has a haunted gaze, and her eyes have no shine to them. 

By the time she reaches her destination, her exhausted body is ready to fall over. But she continues, opening the door to one of the castle's many chambers. She steps foot into the room and collapses. She tries to stand up to no avail, shivering. She drags herself towards the broken mirror stand, staring at her reflection.

The woman's hair is bright blue with faded yellow roots. Dark body armor with hints of golden color between dark blue stripes covers her body. Her left eye was golden, while her right was cyan. But they both share the same amount of pain. The most noticeable part of her was the stone that rested over her heart. With swirls of yellow and blue mixed together, one might say it was beautiful.

But Cassandra knew that underneath the stone's glory, it came with a curse. She curls and uncurls her fists, growling. Every night she relived the moment she stole the Sundrop from Rapunzel. Each day she remembered how everyone, including Rapunzel, had fled when they realized the hard way that they couldn't defeat her. Back then, Cassandra had no mercy for her enemies. She was willing to kill them for all she cared. Her only goal was to look out for herself and achieve her destiny.

This desire hadn't lasted long after she obtained the Ultimate Power. At first, Cassandra didn't give a crap that she was alone. But as the days passed by, she found herself wanting to confide in someone. She craves a shoulder to cry on and to let out all her thoughts of self-doubt and hatred.

But she has nothing, no one to comfort her during this time. She drove away anyone who wanted to help her. And out of what? The answer was simple, fear. 

Cassandra stands up on shaking legs and staggers over to the large bed, falling onto it within seconds. She lays there, staring blankly at the shattered ceiling. She listens to the ticking of a fallen clock, waiting for her eyes to close. She continues this process until sleep overtakes her.

\---

_"The eclipse has begun to weaken the Sundrop's strength," Zhan Tiri told Cassandra, smirking._

_"Your time has come to face the princess and to take the power that rightfully belongs to you," she continued, hiding a chuckle. Cassandra gazed at her for a split moment before stalking off._

_"You're right, it is time," she declared, and Zhan Tiri didn't hide her malicious smile. Cassandra stopped at Rapunzel's doorway and remained there until Zhan Tiri caught up with her._

_"There's one other thing you have to know," she admitted, clenching her fist. Zhan Tiri blinked, not expecting what happened next. One moment she was standing beside Cassandra. Then, black rocks shot out of the ground and encased her. The ancient demon glanced up at Cassandra, surprised by the foolish girl's grin._

_"It's not that I don't trust you," Cassandra began, shoulders shaking with glee._

_"No, wait, I don't," she laughed. She shoved her hands together, tightening the rocks around Zhan Tiri. She continued to do this until the evil being couldn't move an inch. Satisfied, Cassandra turned away from Zhan Tiri and went to leave the room. She paused in her tracks, looking back at the demon who had manipulated her for so long._

_"But, I do have to thank you for all the help you've given me," Cassandra mocked, a vindictive smile on her features. She thrust her arm out, launching Zhan Tiri away from her. When Zhan Tiri was no longer in view, Cassandra let the rocks encasing Zhan Tiri disintegrate. With that, she turned around, prepared to face Rapunzel down once and for all._

\---

_"Cassandra, no!" Rapunzel pleaded, gasping as the Sundrop detached itself from her body. The golden stone floated towards Cassandra's open hand. She grinned as the Sundrop got closer to her._

_"Sorry, Rapunzel!" Cassandra exclaimed, ready to take what was hers. Within moments the Sundrop was in her grasp, pulsing in her hand. She felt the stone's warmth against her fingertips and admired the patterns engraved into it. She breathed a sigh of satisfaction and looked at her reflection. At last, she was fulfilling her destiny. She looked up from the stone and saw Rapunzel staring back at her. Cassandra felt a twinge of guilt at how helpless Rapunzel was._

_"Cassandra," Rapunzel begged, hoping to get through to her best friend._

_"If you reunite the Sundrop and Moonstone, who knows what'll happen to you!" Cassandra turned away from her former friend, scowling._

_"Is this really what you want? To obtain power at the cost of everyone who cares about you?" Rapunzel continued. Cassandra stared at the Sundrop, noting how much worse she looked. She considered what Rapunzel said. Was this what she wanted? To lose all the people who still loved and cared about her? She tightens her grip on the Sundrop as she remembers all the previous events that led up to this moment. She whips around, glaring at Rapunzel with an intense fury._

_"You think people still care about me?!" she snapped, trembling with rage._

_"When I wanted to do something good on my part and apologize, they attacked me," Cassandra snarled, reminding Rapunzel of how the amber trapped her._

_"They all saw me as the bad guy," she chuckled, but her laugh wasn't humorous._

_"So I became what they wanted to see," she traced the markings on the Sundrop, and Moonstone glowed brighter._

_"But you don't have to be the villain!" Rapunzel exclaimed, reaching through the black rocks towards Cassandra._

_"Please, Cass, come back to us," Rapunzel continued to reach her hand out._

_"We can help you," Cassandra pondered for a split second before scoffing._

_"I chose my path, Rapunzel," Cassandra closed her eyes, bringing the Sundrop closer to her chest. She felt its power radiating alongside the Moonstone. The two stones glowed as they approached each other, prepared to reunite after several years._

_"And I'm staying on it,"_

_Then, the Sundrop touched the Moonstone, and a white light engulfed her vision._

\---

Cassandra abruptly shot up from the bed, gasping for breath. She clutched the Ultimate Power stone as if her life depended on it. Once she calmed down, she realized there were tons of black rocks surrounding her. Cassandra sighed heavily, putting a hand on her forehead.

"Not again," she mumbled, scanning the destruction surrounding her. She waved her hand around, making the rocks recede into the ground, leaving nothing behind. She remained still, shuddering from the vision. It had felt so real. Like she was there. She had felt the same blazing hot agony from when she reunited the Moonstone and Sundrop. She caressed the stone over her heart, a blank expression on her face.

_"What will you do if you win, Cassandra? Did you ever stop to think about that? That you could end up alone?"_

_"Let me tell you something, Rapunzel. This whole ordeal has taught me that I don't NEED anyone,"_

Head hanging low, Cassandra tightened her grip and smiled. 

"Was it worth it?" she asked herself, shaking with displeasure.

"WAS IT WORTH IT?!" her voice rose to a point where she was screaming at herself. She grabbed her cerulean hair, trying to calm herself down. The truth of her final decision haunted her, and she hated herself for it. She still remembered how everyone had looked at her. The pain in their eyes when they realized that the woman they had all grown to love was gone. When Cassandra took the Ultimate Power, she left behind her past self, becoming the outer shell of someone else entirely.

The young woman curled in on herself, struggling to fall back to sleep. The sickening truth of her actions threatened to crush her with guilt. It wouldn't matter what she did. No matter how hard she tried, nothing she did would be worth it. Cassandra lowered her hand away from the stone, a stoic expression on her face. Her eyes glowed faintly from the tears that threatened to fall against her pallor.

"It'll never be worth it," she whispered to herself.

_"It'll never be worth it,"_

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, this was an AU where Cassandra gets the Ultimate Power, but lives to regretting her decision. I imagine that if she did manage to take the Sundrop from Rapunzel, she would be happy at first. But the longer she spends with the power, the more distressed she'll become. This continues until she's in a complete spiral of madness. 
> 
> As for Rapunzel and Zhan Tiri, Rapunzel would have fled alongside her friends and family, despite not wanting to retreat. And Zhan Tiri got dropped from a high place. I actually couldn't figure out on how to kill her because I couldn't decide between having Cassandra either stab her or suffocate her. So I just went with, "Drop her from a high place, outside the tower," 
> 
> Is Zhan Tiri dead? Well, I'll leave it up to you guys. I had no plan what so ever on whether she would survive the fall or not. After all, Rapunzel's room is a very tall tower.


End file.
